I know that many sites have a problem with lack of traffic, and it is a constant complaint at Bonanza, and at new sites like Artyah. I know, though, that the key to more sales for my shops is to be able to advertise in other ways aside from just posting through social media. I do social media, but it's not enough.

Some of my social media sites activity also needs to be replaced with a type of advertising that would be more beneficial. I never joined Tumblr, left Wanelo long ago, and even left Twitter and Facebook, and then came back to the latter 2. Those two, for questionable effectiveness, are always short of being on the chopping block, or at least short of being allowed to stagnate. If I decide again to move away from them, I'd keep the accounts, but significantly reduce my time spent at each one. If I join anything where I'd need to have one of those accounts, they'd already be in place. That's why I came back to them before, because I needed them in order to join new activities online.

I recently joined Instagram, and love it. But for all of it's smartphone convenience, and because of it, it can take lots of time away from other promotion, because it is fun and quick to use.

To me, posting to any social site where the posts are regularly buried (sent to the bottom or swiftly pushed down out of site) is time poorly spent. This is my problem with Twitter and Facebook. Pinterest does not have that problem. I love Pinterest, and am always wanting to rid myself of Twitter and Facebook. Some do very well through Facebook. One of my Artyah sales from last year came through Facebook. And it was a stranger, not a fellow seller or Artyah member.

My last sale was from Facebook. A "stranger" sale who messaged me and asked where to buy one of my items. Of course I sent the artyah link to them and they purchased. Hopefully this will continue. __________________Unique Pet Accessorieshttps://www.artyah.com/seller/miascloset

I feel that even if a few people see the tweet or whatever it is getting the name of ArtYah out and into people's subconscious even if nothing else. If they then later come across us and see something they like they may thing "I have heard of them" and be happier to purchase. I have noticed when I add items to Twitter it does bring in more views even if not sales. I have tried this with using the twitter link int eh listings to post and to post multiples of pictures with a link in the tweet__________________

I have tried to encourage all that use it to share everybodys post as the share can go public (I hope this is how Miascloset achieved her sale). Unfortunately so far there is only three of us on there doing the sharing, I will continue to share other ArtYah shops in the hope that one day they will join in with the sharing.

I have had a sale on my private face book page and also twitter but I don't feel it warrants the time I spent on them__________________Ellie

I spend a lot of time on twitter tweeting and retweeting posts from everyone I can find so I hope it is benefiting somebody I have noticed a lot of new people on Twitter tweeting their Artyah shops in the last few days so if everyone retweets we should get the word out.__________________

Originally Posted by Lesley FrySandi - do you post on your personal Facebook page or a commercial one?

Hi Lesley:

I have 2 business pages that I use. Before I got those I would post to my personal page (which I had created that account for my creative life), but Fbook admin/management let me know that they did not like/want me posting product listing links to my personal, or original, account. They said/suggested that I need a business page. I had been considering launching one, but hadn't at that time. So I did. They also told me to remove that non-name from my name. I had been using Sandi "Paperlady" Holland. I removed it. Hundreds/thousands of members enhance their names like that. I did not care for their communication with me, but I chose to chalk it up to them seeing potential in me, and wanting to exploit it. I'm sure that they hoped that when I launched my business pages that I'd buy all sorts of marketing, promoting, boosting packages.__________________Sandi Paper Nirvana Alpha Shop ♥ Artsy Craftery Studio ♥ The Creative Seller Website ♥ Pinterest ♥ Instagram ♥ Facebook ♥ Twitter

Originally Posted by ChristineI feel that even if a few people see the tweet or whatever it is getting the name of ArtYah out and into people's subconscious even if nothing else. If they then later come across us and see something they like they may thing "I have heard of them" and be happier to purchase. I have noticed when I add items to Twitter it does bring in more views even if not sales. I have tried this with using the twitter link int eh listings to post and to post multiples of pictures with a link in the tweet

I have tried to encourage all that use it to share everybodys post as the share can go public (I hope this is how Miascloset achieved her sale). Unfortunately so far there is only three of us on there doing the sharing, I will continue to share other ArtYah shops in the hope that one day they will join in with the sharing.

I have had a sale on my private face book page and also twitter but I don't feel it warrants the time I spent on them

Yep! Those are my points. I used to share often at one of the original FBook groups, which is the one that is a combo of several venues, Artyah, Etsy, Artfire, etc. I find very few sellers who share the work of others, anywhere. I said very few. Please don't comment saying that I am wrong, because you share the work of others. I'm not saying that you don't.

I used to divide my limited time between sharing my work and the work of others, until I saw (and I've noticed this for years) that most sellers only share their own work. I have regularly shared the work of others who have never shared my work back. So I started focusing on continuing to share for others who share back sometimes. In some of the social groups or pin boards, people share regularly, but it is filled with their own stuff. When I share my posts, I try to share the post of another, or at least look and like or comment on one other person's posts. I think that is fair, and some of the groups/boards show that requirement. The places that are overrun with 1-2 or 3 sellers self-shared work only, where they don't share anyone else, are discouraging to use. It can still help bring traffic to the venue when they do that, but it's not the same as if the sellers were sharing others along with themselves.

Also, it's a personal thing, of course, deciding if as you said, I don't feel it warrants the time I spent on them, which is my point. To make activity on some of these social sites pay off, it takes a lot of time of posting at different pages and groups. On FB when I share a link from a venue, I am asked to where I want to share it. A list of the groups/pages of which I am a member does not come up like when your boards at Pinterest come up for you to select from. I have to type in a group name, but usually I want a specific one. So I start typing in letters of the alpha to pull up some groups, and it doesn't even show the complete group name. It's a mess and I've given up really with that. It's supposed to be a quick process, but it's a headache. I read about someone else, not here, saying the same thing. So I usually just go to the group and manually add the post, because I'll be at the exact group that I want. This takes more time. I also try to follow people back and return likes/comments favors, because I think this is fair, and a necessary and important part of doing business and being social.

I try to do the same thing at Twitter. I try to see who has followed me, who has liked or retweeted one of my tweets. It takes time, and when I was on Twitter before, I had begun to use one of those programs for managing tweets and all activity. I believe I used Tweet Deck. It kept a window open constantly on my monitor where I could keep track of what was going on and participate swiftly and accordingly. To make my Twitter activities really pay off, these are things that I feel need to be done. Otherwise it's just a lot of activity with a few additional visits. Also there were the Tweet Bombs that we used to do at Zibbet. It took time and commitment, and they brought in more views for the venue, but it rarely paid out in sales. When I was connected to all the right people at Twitter before, people who promoted these activities and spent huge amounts of time Twittering, I'd get 80 upwards to over a hundred additional views in one block of time from participating, but I could not keep up that pace and research, study, design, create, make, and list regularly. Some may say it has to be done consistently to pay off in sales.

But what I ask myself is if this will ever pay off really, the way that I'm doing it when it comes to social media marketing.

Originally Posted by ArtyahArt TwitterI spend a lot of time on twitter tweeting and retweeting posts from everyone I can find so I hope it is benefiting somebody I have noticed a lot of new people on Twitter tweeting their Artyah shops in the last few days so if everyone retweets we should get the word out.

Yes, there are certainly the faithful ones who share others along with their own. I do watch, and have been for a long, long time, to see who are sharing others and who are only sharing their own, and who returns the favor when I share theirs. There is nothing wrong with only sharing our own products. But to keep doing that and expect fellow sellers to look, like and buy is just not fair. And when a few others try to spur on everyone to share, share, share everyone's listings, I'm like uh-uh-uh, um-um-um most sellers are not taking the time to share the work of others, and to return these favors. Then when someone says brightly if we do then others will. I'm like uh-uh-uh, um-um-um I've done this for years and at other communities, and it has been the same. Sellers barely return the favor, and most don't. When I share a new seller a few times, someone I've never shared before, and I don't ever get reciprocated, I don't take my time and effort to share that seller again.__________________Sandi Paper Nirvana Alpha Shop ♥ Artsy Craftery Studio ♥ The Creative Seller Website ♥ Pinterest ♥ Instagram ♥ Facebook ♥ Twitter

This seems to be a dead thread, however, I'm hoping to revive it as I feel social media is important as it pertains to Google ranking.

First let me say that I hate social media. It's time consuming and feels like it doesn't lead to sales. However, Google ranking does lead to sales and this is why I feel some time should be devoted to social media.

Secondly, I use Twitter and am not a fan of Facebook. Facebook is fabulous for many people - just isn't my cuppa. Therefore, I cannot speak as to the effectiveness of Facebook and will only comment about my experience with Twitter. Plus I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter but trying to be more consistent than I was.

Originally Posted by thetinseledwhiskerThis seems to be a dead thread, however, I'm hoping to revive it as I feel social media is important as it pertains to Google ranking.

First let me say that I hate social media. It's time consuming and feels like it doesn't lead to sales. However, Google ranking does lead to sales and this is why I feel some time should be devoted to social media.

Secondly, I use Twitter and am not a fan of Facebook. Facebook is fabulous for many people - just isn't my cuppa. Therefore, I cannot speak as to the effectiveness of Facebook and will only comment about my experience with Twitter. Plus I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter but trying to be more consistent than I was.

When I retweet, I always try to click on the link that brings me to the item for sale in the shop. This is what increases that shop and that particular item's Google ranking.

I'm interested in what others have to say about this. Anyone?

Thanks for sharing the article. When all of that is said and done though, how much tweeting/sharing really needs to be done for those figures to make a difference? That's what I'm evaluating regarding my time management. If I don't have time to do consistently massive tweeting, if that is required to realize a good return, then the little time that I do devote to it is potentially wasted, and maybe that time would be better used in some other type of marketing activity.

I feel too that social media is important, and that some time should be devoted to using it. I try to reciprocate to those who share my posts, in addition to posting for myself and tweeting the work of new shops that I discover. Most of my limited time on social media is spent returning the favors, because that's important to me. When I go to Twitter, I go immediately to my Notifications. I go down the list, retweeting and sometimes outright thanking for sharing, and following new followers who would be a good fit.

Twitter is not that great to me because sometimes the image from a listing shows, and sometimes it does not. If you don't go there and check after you tweet from another website, you don't know for sure if your image is showing. It takes extra time to do this. I tweet for my images to show, not just a link.

The ideal and most beneficial way to retweet is with an introduction to what/who you are sharing, but who has time to do that? I used to, but stopped because very few do that anymore.

Facebook is annoying because the product images are always cut off when shared from a venue, and I doubt if visitors click on the image to open the full size. If most are not liking or re-sharing, why would they be opening up the post. The only way to insure that the complete image shows is to upload from the computer, then the image is not clickable, but the link has to be manually added in the post, requiring precious extra time. When I bother to post to FB and my image is cut off, I'm not attracting any interest, because often the product itself is indeterminate.

First let me say that I hate social media. It's time consuming and feels like it doesn't lead to sales. However, Google ranking does lead to sales and this is why I feel some time should be devoted to social media.

I can second your first sentece, I dislike Facebook, detest Pinterest (people pinning my photos there without my permission have, over the years cost me money as each photo should have been paid for and licenced, not freely copied but that is another story). I also only use Twitter

Quote:

Originally Posted by thetinseledwhisker

When I retweet, I always try to click on the link that brings me to the item for sale in the shop. This is what increases that shop and that particular item's Google ranking.

I'm interested in what others have to say about this. Anyone?

This makes sense, Google can report on links followed, amount of time someone stays on a page and number of pages looked at I think so following links and then following again is probably a good idea

I just had another thought - how about following the link and then posting something else from that person's shop? If not every time then at least occasionally, just done this with one of TinseledWisker's__________________

Originally Posted by ChristineI just had another thought - how about following the link and then posting something else from that person's shop? If not every time then at least occasionally, just done this with one of TinseledWisker's

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